Fewer kitchens

Sales of kitchen furniture in the UK in 2008 were down by 17 per cent to £ 1.645 bn across all the different channels of distribution, according to a study by the Centre for Industrial Studies (CSIL). Volume sales dropped by around 20 per cent to a total of 920 000 kitchens. The impact of these results on the DIY retailers, whose 2008 market share came to 18 per cent by value and 22 per cent by volume, was extremely varied. While Homebase was able to record a certain degree of growth, which didn’t come near the rates of preceding years, the study reveals that B&Q and Wickes suffered appreciable sales shortfalls in this segment.